With World Autism Month having just come to an end, the team at Els for Autism has asked me to express thanks to everyone who took part in the various events that they organised throughout April.
All of us are so grateful to all the local businesses for hosting giveback events, government officials for honoring us with proclamations, and national companies for holding annual initiatives in support of Els for Autism. Click here for the full list of events that took place; it really was a busy month! With everyone’s help, we are able to further our global mission of transforming the lives of people with autism and those who care for them through lifetime services and collaborative partnerships. At this point, I’d also like to add my own personal thanks and pay tribute to Liezl and the rest of the team at Els for Autism for all the hard work they continue to do for such an incredible cause.
Staying with Els for Autism, this year’s Golf Challenge is off and running with the first regional event in the 2023 series taking place at beautiful Bear Lakes in Florida on May 1. I very much enjoyed being there too and getting involved in one of the foundation’s #GameON golf clinics, which have been such a success these past number of years. Thank you to everyone who took part at Bear Lakes. There’s so much more to come this year and, as always, the team at Els for Autism have put together a really wonderful schedule of events. If you are in a position to be able to take part, we’d love for you to join us. Click here for the full schedule and for details of how to play.
In South Africa, the Ernie Els Charities SA series is well into its stride. Nico Van Rensburg and the team have hosted four events now and he tells me there has been a great turnout at every one of them. Check out the rest of the schedule on the poster on the homepage; we are blessed to have the support of a number of excellent venues across South Africa and hopefully there’ll be one on the list that is convenient for you.
As many of you may recall, this year began with some well-deserved industry accolades for some of our existing Ernie Els Design golf courses. We’re proud to say it has been an exciting few months for some of our newest projects, too. In the last few weeks we were able to officially announce a golf course design project at OLEADA Pacific Living & Golf, a brand-new 860-acre oceanfront resort community on the southern point of Mexico’s stunning Baja peninsula. Located about 15 minutes from downtown Cabo San Lucas, we predict this golf course is going to be absolutely incredible. We’re expecting completion some time in 2026 and it’ll be open to the public from day one. I’m looking forward to another site visit with the team very soon. Click here for the full story.
Meanwhile, everything is looking good at Lido Lakes in Indonesia, where another of our golf course design projects is fast nearing completion. Our firm’s senior design associate Greg Letsche was on site not long ago and sent back a glowing report and some striking images. For all of us, that feeling of seeing a design come to life never gets old.
Next, from one golf course nearing competition to another that’s just in the preliminary phases, it’s nice that we can now start talking about our upcoming two championship golf course layout on the stunning Adriatic coastline in Croatia. Liezl and I vacationed there almost 20 years ago and we still remember what a beautiful island it is. Again, this is new territory for our firm and we are all keen to get going.
In the coming months we’ll have more news regarding a couple of other new projects in exciting locations around the world, but the timing isn’t quite right for this report. So you’ll have to watch this space! Better still, follow us on social media where you’ll find us on Twitter and Instagram @ernieelsdesign.
Moving on to the tournament scene, I don’t get a chance to play many events away from the Champions Tour, so it was enjoyable teeing it up last month in the RBC Heritage, always one of my favourite Tour stops, and the ISPS HANDA Championship in Japan. My game is in pretty good shape. Getting that first win of 2023 at the Hoag Classic (career win No.76) was just what we needed and hopefully we can push on from here and have a strong season on the Champions Tour and make a good run at the Schwab Cup. Switching to the claw grip with my putter has been a positive move; the stroke feels smooth and I’m rolling the ball nicely. When you make putts you always feel like you can compete, so I’m obviously excited about that.
Okay, that’s it for now. You can keep up to date with all our latest news by following us on social media. Just click on the relevant icons at the bottom of this page.
